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DEVONSHIRE 
STREET 


A  COLLECTION  OF 

FACTS  AND  INCIDENTS  TOGETHER  WITH 

REPRODUCTIONS  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PERTAINING  TO  AN  OLD 

BOSTON  STREET 


PERRY   WALTON 


WRITTEN  AND  PRINTED  FOR  THE 

SECOND    NATIONAL    BANK 

BOSTON  MASSACHUSETTS 


bVSTUN   COLLEGE  UBRAK* 
CHESTNU'"    "fLL,    .VMSS, 


Copyright  1912 
By  the  Second  National  Bank 


Designed  and  Printed 

under  the  direction  of  the 

"Walton  Advertising  &  Printing  Co. 

Boston,  Massachusetts 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  Second  National  Bank  takes  pleasure  in  presenting  to 
you  this  brief  story  of  Devonshire  Street. 

It  does  not  purpose  to  be  more  than  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the 
vital  and  interesting  part  the  street  has  long  played  in  the  develop- 
ment of  Boston.  Here  are  gathered  within  a  few  pages  the  facts 
and  romances  relating  to  Devonshire  Street,  which  are  of  interest 
to  the  business  man  as  well  as  to  the  student  of  history. 

Much  of  the  material  has  been  gleaned  from  old  deeds  and 
journals  and  other  authentic  sources.  The  pamphlet  is  in  such 
form  that  it  may  be  readily  bound  for  preservation  in  your  library. 

The  coat-of-arms  on  the  title-page  is  a  reproduction  of  that 
of  John  Wilson,  the  town's  first  pastor  and  one  of  its  founders. 
The  vignette  of  the  door  on  the  opposite  page  and  that  at  the 
end  of  the  book  are  from  a  photograph  of  the  entrance  to  the 
Second  National  Bank. 

In  the  hope  that  this  brochure  is  worthy  of  the  passing  atten- 
tion of  all  Bostonians  and  that  it  may  be  as  interesting  as  it  is 
informative,  it  is  sent  to  you  with  the  compliments  of  the 
Second  National  Bank. 


DEVONSHIRE    STREET 

AS  a   house   takes   its  atmosphere  from  the  character  of  the 

r^L      people  who  live  in  it,  so  a  street  owes  whatever  interest  it 

may  possess  to  the  vicissitudes  and  the  romances  of  those 

who  frequent  it.     Its  story  is  inseparable  from  the  story  of  those 

who  have  made  it  what  it  is. 

All  streets  have  a  beginning  and  an  era  of  growth,  while  some 
have  a  state  of  decadence.  So  vital  a  part  of  Boston  has  Devon- 
shire Street  been  that  it  has  never  reached  a  decadent  state,  but 
has  presented  always  an  appearance  of  prosperous  and  interest- 
ing growth.  Since  the  beginning  of  the  town  it  has  divided  with 
State  and  Washington  Streets  the  distinction  of  being  one  of 
Boston's  principal  thoroughfares,  and  shares  with  State  Street 
and  with  Congress  Street  whatever  honor  may  lie  in  being  the 
financial  centre  of  New  England. 

During  the  early  days  of  the  old  town  there  were  two  defined 
ways  used  by  the  settlers.  One  led  from  the  water  front  straight 
up  to  the  Market-place  at  the  head  of  State  Street,  and  was  called 
the  Great  Street:  the  other  led  from  the  Market-place  along  the 
line  of  what  is  now  Washington  Street,  and  was  at  first  the  old 
Indian  trail  that  led  Roxbury  way.  Another  path  led  from  the 
Town  Dock  at  Dock  Square  to  the  Market-place  and  thence  south 
from  the  Market-place  to  Ann  Hibbins's  house,  on  the  site  of  the 
Second  National  Bank,  and  also  to  the  Great  Spring  at  the  head  of 
Spring  Lane.  Later  this  path  continued  to  the  house  and  garden 
of  John  Joyliff,  near  the  corner  of  Milk  and  Devonshire  Streets, 
and  thence  to  the  house  of  William  Dinsdale,  near  what  is  now 
Franklin  Street.  These  paths  were  the  beginning  of  Devonshire 
Street. 

DEVONSHIRE  STREET  IN  THE    BEGINNING 

As  one  stands  in  front  of  the  old  State  House,  the  original  Mar- 
ket-place, and  looks  first  towards  Dock  Square  and  then  towards 
the  post-office,  down  Devonshire  Street,  crowded  with  trucks, 
wagons,  and  other  business  vehicles,  and  sees  the  hundreds  of 


8  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

people  hurrying  hither  and  thither,  it  is  hard  to  realize  that  a  few 
hundred  years  ago  peaceful  meadows  stretched  on  either  side, 
threaded  by  a  foot-path  which  for  a  century  or  more  had  only  the 
dignity  of  a  lane.  To  the  north  Devonshire  Street  was  a  foot- 
path across  the  land  of  the  town's  first  pastor  to  the  Town  Dock. 
And  it  wasn't  even  a  straight  path,  for  it  meandered  over  the 
unlevel  ground  in  such  a  crooked  way  that  for  a  long  time  some 
of  the  settlers  called  it  Crooked  Lane,  while  others  called  it  Wil- 
son's Lane,  in  honor  of  the  town's  first  pastor.  To  the  south  of 
the  old  State  House  the  street  again  was  a  path  which  led  from 
the  Market-place,  at  the  head  of  State  Street,  across  the  fields 
of  the  early  residents  to  the  Great  Spring  and  the  house  of  Mis- 
tress Ann  Hibbins,  Boston's  early  witch.  And  here  it  crossed 
the  brook  which  emptied  into  the  cove  at  the  present  junction  of 
Congress  and  Water  Streets,  and  then  it  traversed  likewise  the 
fields  to  Joyliff's. 

On  either  side  of  this  little  path,  along  which  the  Puritans  were 
wont  to  wend  their  way  from  the  Town  Dock  to  the  Market-place, 
and  from  the  Market-place  to  the  Great  Spring  and  Ann  Hibbins's, 
and  thence  on  to  Joyliff's  house,  apple  orchards  and  cherry-trees 
bloomed  and  fruited,  and  the  butterflies  glanced  through  the  air. 
and  the  bees  hummed  in  the  clover  of  the  fields.  And,  morning 
and  evening,  cattle  strayed  down  to  the  creek  at  the  corner  of 
Water  and  Devonshire  Streets,  where  the  post-office  now  stands, 
to  drink  their  fill;  and  at  the  Great  Spring  Madam  Winthrop  and 
Ann  Hutchinson  filled  their  pitchers,  Elder  Thomas  Oliver, 
Governor  Winthrop,  and  Richard  Brackett,  the  jailer,  and  other 
goodmen  and  dames  congregated  to  wag  their  tongues  over  the 
latest  bit  of  gossip,  to  discuss  perchance  the  sharp  sayings  of  Ann 
Hibbins,  the  latest  Indian  happenings,  or  what  startling  news 
some  incoming  ship  may  have  brought  from  the  old  country. 

As  the  town  grew  and  the  paths  grew  into  lanes,  shops  and 
houses  began  to  line  them.  A  few  years  after  the  opening  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  Crooked  Lane  had  been  so  officially  named  by 
the  town,  and  later  in  its  history  it  was  known  for  the  superior 
quality  of  its  chop-houses.  The  old  lane  calls  to  mind  Tom 
Hood's  description  of  its  London  prototype: — 


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10  DEVONSHIRE  STREET 

I've  heard  about  a  pleasant  land  where  omelets  grow  on  trees. 
And  roasted  pigs  run  crying  out,  "Come  eat  us,  if  you  please." 
My  appetite  is  rather  keen,  but  how  shall  I  get  there? 
Straight  down  the  Crooked  Lane  and  all  around  the  square. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  path  on  the  south  side  of  the  Mar- 
ket-place had  become  Pudden,  or  Pudding,  Lane, — a  name,  some 
say,  derived  from  the  well-known  London  street,  while  others  de- 
clare the  name  came  from  the  savory  desserts  which  were  pre- 
pared in  the  kitchen  of  the  Blue  Anchor  Tavern,  the  grounds  of 
which  ran  from  Washington  Street  to  Pudding  Lane,  and  the 
odors  from  which  lingered  awhile  with  those  who  wended  their 
way  past.  The  path  which  led  from  the  house  of  Ann  Hibbins  to 
the  house  of  John  Joyliff  was  not  defined  well  enough  to  have  a 
name  until  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century.  About 
this  same  time  the  path  to  William  Dinsdale's  house  and  garden 
south  of  Joyliff's  had  become  the  lane  to  Dinsdale's,  and  for 
over  a  century  was  known  as  Dinsdale's  Alley. 

OFFICIAL  METES   AND   BOUNDS 

The  past  of  a  street  which  has  given  a  home  to  the  first  minister 
of  the  town,  one  of  the  first  witches,  a  pirate  of  some  fame,  a 
governor  of  much  honor,  an  inn  of  national  reputation,  one  of  the 
earliest  newspapers  in  America,  many  of  the  "bobs"  and 
"nabobs"  of  early  Boston,  should  have  some  official  chronology, 
and,  therefore,  let  us  see  what  the  official  record  of  the  streets, 
alleys,  and  places  of  the  city  of  Boston  has  to  say  about  the  com- 
ponent parts  of  Devonshire  Street. 

Crooked  Lane  was  officially  so  named  at  a  meeting  of  the  select- 
men of  Boston,  May  3,  1708,  and  the  name  was  changed  to  Wil- 
son's Lane  May  12,  1712,  and  June  6,  1872,  became  Devonshire 
Street,  and  was  made  fifty  feet  wide.  Pudding  Lane  was  so 
called  at  the  same  meeting  in  1708  that  Crooked  Lane  was  named. 
After  the  fire  of  1760  it  was  enlarged  into  a  street,  and  called 
Devonshire  Street  April  28,  1766,  in  honor  of  Christopher  Devon- 
shire, a  merchant  of  Bristol,  who  had  long  traded  with  Boston, 
and  who  was  a  large  contributor  to  the  sufferers   from  the  fire. 


DEVONSHIRE  STREET  ll 

Joyliff's  Lane  from  Water  to  Milk  Street  was  also  officially 
designated  at  the  aforesaid  town  meeting  of  1708  as  Joliff's, 
JollifT's,  Joyliff's,  and  Joylieffs  Lane,  according  as  you  want  to 
spell  it. 

Old  Bostonians  never  were  particularly  strong  on  spelling. 
One  can  find  the  same  name  spelled  in  different  ways  in  many 
an  old  deed.  In  1784  Joyliff's  Lane  was  called  Devonshire 
Street,  though  it  was  still  known  to  many  up  to  1800  as  Joyliff's 
Lane.  Up  to  1796  Dinsdale's  Alley  went  under  its  original  name. 
At  this  date,  however,  it  became  known  as  Theatre  Alley,  because 
it  was  the  way  to  the  rear  entrance  to  the  Federal  Street  Theatre, 
which  in  1793  had  been  erected  at  the  corner  of  Franklin  and 
Federal  Streets.  Through  it  and  Odeon  Avenue,  as  the  rear  end 
of  Theatre  Alley  was  later  known  from  the  Odeon  Theatre,  Devon- 
shire Street  was  extended  from  Milk  to  Franklin  Street  June  22, 

1857.  Devonshire  Street  was  extended  from  Franklin  Street 
to  Otis  and  Winthrop  Places  June  26,  1858,  and  September  3, 

1858.  On  June  25,  1862,  and  December  30,  1862,  portions  of  the 
adjoining  estates  were  taken  for  the  street,  and  April  23,  1861, 
the  name  Winthrop  Place  was  changed  to  Devonshire  Street,  while 
on  June  6,  1872,  Devonshire  Street  was  extended  fifty  feet  wide 
through  Wilson's  Lane  across  Dock  Square,  now  in  part  Adams 
Square,  to  Washington  Street.  So  much  for  the  official  metes 
and  bounds.  Now  let  us  stroll  through  Devonshire  Street, 
gleaning  here  and  there  its  facts  and  romances. 

JOHN   WILSON   AND   HIS   HOME 

According  to  the  Book  of  Possessions  which  fixed  the  residents 
of  the  town,  in  1645  the  home  of  the  Rev.  John  Wilson,  the  first 
pastor,  stood  where  the  Merchants  National  Bank  now  is.  And 
across  his  land  the  villagers  went  from  the  Market-place  to  the 
Town  Dock,  and  gradually  wore  the  path  that  became  the  lane 
that  grew  into  the  street.  The  ancient  landing-place  was  at  Dock 
Square,  at  the  foot  of  Wilson's  Lane.  John  Wilson  was  a  man  of 
most  independent  mind,  and  quite  as  independent  was  his  family. 
His  wife  long  preferred  the  luxuries  of  her  father's  home  rather 


12  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

than  the  privations  of  the  Boston  of  1630,  and  his  eldest  son, 
a  graduate  of  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge,  never  did  set  foot 
in  America.  Wilson  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  William  Wilson, 
Canon  of  Windsor,  amid  the  royal  splendor  of  which  John  was 
born  in  1588.  He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  King's  College,  Cam- 
bridge. He  early  showed  the  disfavor  with  which  he  looked  upon 
the  Church  of  England,  and  finally  came  to  accept  the  Puritan 
belief,  going  so  far  as  to  say  "that,  if  the  Lord  would  grant  him 
the  liberty  of  conscience  with  purity  of  worship,  he  would  be 
content,  yea,  thankful,  though  it  were  at  the  furthermost  end 
of  the  world." 

He  had  been  preaching  for  fifteen  years  to  the  Puritans  in  the 
small  towns  of  England,  and  was  forty-two  years  of  age  when  he 
joined  one  of  the  early  bands  of  adventurers,  leaving  his  wife 
with  her  rich  mother  in  London,  and  sailed  March  22, 1630,  for  the 
bleak  New  England  shore.  Wilson  was  one  of  those  who  with 
John  Winthrop  accepted  the  invitation  of  William  Blackstone, 
the  hermit  of  Trimount,  to  settle  on  the  Shawmut  peninsula 
because  of  the  abundant  water,  which  was  scarce  in  Charlestown. 
x4.s  first  pastor  of  the  first  church  of  the  town,  Wilson  was  given  for 
his  residence  the  most  desirable  lot,  and  it  stood  at  the  head  of 
the  Market,  or  Great  Street  of  the  town,  as  State  Street  was  then 
called,  and  was  directly  opposite  the  first  church,  which  stood  on 
the  southeasterly  corner  of  Devonshire  Street,  the  present  site 
of  the  Brazier  Building. 

His  land,  comprising  about  an  acre,  fronted  on  the  Market,  or 
State  Street,  and  on  the  north  ran  down  to  the  cove  at  Dock  Square, 
the  landing-place  of  the  town.  At  one  time  he  and  his  neighbor 
complained  strenuously  to  the  town  fathers  of  the  way  in  which 
the  fishermen  left  the  remnants  of  their  catch  on  the  shore  of  his 
land,  to  the  great  annoyance  of  his  nose.  His  house,  as  were  all 
those  of  the  early  settlers,  was  at  first  only  a  rude  shelter  from 
the  weather.  When  it  was  burned,  he  built  a  better  house;  and, 
when  this  was  burned,  he  built  again.  As  John  Endicott  wrote 
to  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  April  18,  1653,  Boston  had  a  great  fire, — 
"eight  howses  were  consumed  and  three  young  children  burnt 
.  .  .  [among  them]  Mr.  Wilson's  howse  and  goods,"  etc.     He  bore 


,.,",  ^:" 


10 ' 


NORTH    SIDE   OF   STATE    STREET    AT   THE   CORNER   OF    WILSONS    LANE, 
NOW   DEVONSHIRE  STREET,  IN  1840.    (From  an  old  wood  engraving) 


14  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

the  affliction  of  these  fires  with  true  Christian  resignation;  for, 
when  accosted  on  the  street  one  day  with 

"Sir,  I  have  sad  news  for  you.  While  you  have  been  abroad, 
your  house  has  burned,"  he  replied, — 

"Blessed  be  God,  he  has  burned  this  house  because  he  intends 
to  give  me  a  better."  . 

It  is  strange  that  the  whole  town  was  not  burned  up,  for  most 
of  the  chimneys  were  then  built  of  wood  and  the  roofs  covered 
with  thatch.  An  early  ordinance  directed  that  no  chimneys 
in  future  be  so  built. 

Wilson  was  quite  a  politician  as  well  as  a  preacher,  and  entered 
the  contest  between  Sir  Harry  Vane  and  John  Winthrop  with 
much  ardor,  even  going  to  the  extent  of  climbing  a  tree  and 
addressing  the  people  on  political  rights,  from  a  bough  sway- 
ing over  their  heads.  He  was  instrumental  in  the  banishment  of 
Ann  Hutchinson  and  in  the  forcing  of  Sir  Harry  Vane  from  office. 
He  conducted  open-air  services  for  the  Indians,  to  whom  he  was 
a  true  friend.  His  modesty  would  never  allow  him  to  consent 
to  have  his  portrait  painted,  so  that  perhaps  the  best  likeness 
we  have  is  the  pen  portrait  by  Hawthorne  in  "The  Scarlet  Letter," 
where  Wilson  is  represented  as  speaking  to  the  woman  on  the 
scaffold  from  the  balcony  which  overlooked  it. 

"There  he  stood,"  writes  Hawthorne,  "with  a  border  of 
grizzled  locks  beneath  his  skull-cap;  while  his  gray  eyes,  accus- 
tomed to  the  light  of  his  study,  were  winking  like  those  of  Hester's 
infant  in  the  unadulterated  sunshine.  He  looked  like  the  darkly 
engraved  portraits  which  we  see  prefixed  to  old  volumes  of  ser- 
mons." 

As  he  lay  on  his  death-bed  in  1667,  one  of  his  daughters  asked 
him,  "Sir,  how  do  you  do?"  Raising  his  hand,  he  said  in  a 
whisper,  "Vanishing  things,  vanishing  things,"  then  he  made 
a  prayer  and  died.  He  lies  buried  in  King's  Chapel  Burying- 
ground,  while  one  of  his  descendants,  William  Howard  Taft,  is 
President;  and  another,  Thomas  Minns,  Esq.,  lives  in  the  city 
that  the  old  man  helped  to  found. 


DEVONSHIRE  STREET  15 

BOSTON'S    FIRST   CHURCH    AND    ITS   SITE 

No  authentic  picture  exists  of  his  church,  the  first  in  Boston, 
which  stood  across  the  street  from  his  house  and  near  the  open 
Market-place  that  during  the  first  year  of  the  settlers  was  at 
the  head  of  State  Street;  but  it  was  like  a  large  district  school- 
house,  with  rough  mud  walls,  mainly  of  sticks,  and  with  a  peaked 
thatched  roof.  It  was  built  the  second  summer  of  the  settlement, 
so  that  its  pastor  preached  the  first  summer  to  his  congregation 
in  the  field  near  his  house.  A  more  substantial  structure  soon 
succeeded  the  first,  and  in  front  of  it  were  the  stocks  and  pillory, 
so  that  spiritual  as  well  as  physical  admonitions  were  early 
close  together  in  the  regulation  of  the  first  settlers.  John  Cotton 
succeeded  John  Wilson  as  the  minister  of  this  old  first  church, 
and  hither  came  to  worship  the  leading  residents  of  the  town, 
such  as  Governors  Winthrop  and  Bellingham. 

As  the  town  increased,  the  meeting-house  became  too  small  for 
its  congregation,  and  finally,  in  1639,  was  sold  to  Robert  Thomp- 
son, a  merchant  of  London,  who  was  then  living  in  Boston. 
According  to  Winthrop,  Thompson  paid  300  pounds  for  the 
building  and  site,  "which  was  62  feet  on  the  Great  Street 
and  64  feet  on  the  street  and  an  alley  [Devonshire  Street]  running 
between  the  church  and  the  house  of  Henry  Phillips,  butcher," 
who  lived  on  the  site  of  the  Easton  Building.  It  would  be  im- 
possible now  to  buy  the  site  of  the  Brazier  Building,  which  stands 
on  the  site  of  this  old  church,  for  many  times  this  amount. 

A  sharp  controversy  arose  in  the  congregation,  after  the  sale, 
as  to  where  the  new  meeting-house  should  be  built.  Some  thought 
it  should  be  placed  on  the  green  given  to  the  town  by  Governor 
Winthrop,  now  occupied  by  the  Old  South,  while  others  and  mer- 
chants about  the  Market-place  wanted  it  built  on  the  site  of  the 
market.  The  new  structure  was  finally  placed  on  Washington 
Street  where  the  Rogers  Building  now  stands.  It  was  not  long 
before  the  decayed  condition  of  the  old  meeting-house  became  a 
menace  to  the  town,  and  it  was  torn  dowm;  and  in  July,  1651,  one 
James  Everell,  who  had  become  either  the  agent  or  the  tenant  of 
the  property,  was  ordered  by  the  town  to  secure  "the  cellar  he 


16  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

hath  diged  where  the  ould  meeting  house  was  and  to  clere  the 
highway  about  it." 

The  site  was  owned  by  Thompson's  heirs  until  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  during  most  of  the  time  the  land  was  used  for  market 
or  butcher  shops,  and  had  no  large  buildings.  After  the  fire 
of  1711  enough  land  was  taken  from  it  to  make  Pudding  Lane 
twelve  feet  wide,  and  in  1712  more  was  taken  off  the  State  Street 
side,  giving  the  bend  in  State  Street  at  this  place.  The  agent 
of  the  property  in  1751  was  Andrew  Oliver,  the  brother-in-law  of 
Governor  Hutchinson  and  the  Stamp  Act  agent  who  was  hung  in 
effigy  from  the  Liberty  Tree  on  the  Common. 

A  substantial  brick  building  stood  upon  the  property  at  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  principal  occupant  of 
which  was  Jonathan  Hastings,  who  previous  to  1800  had  been 
postmaster.  The  first  government  post-office,  as  well  as  the  first 
United  States  Bank,  occupied  this  site  in  an  old  two-story  wooden 
building,  over  the  door  of  which  Simeon  Skillan,  a  North  End 
carver,  had  cut  a  figure  of  Mercury  holding  in  one  hand  his  rod 
and  in  the  other  a  letter  for  the  president  of  the  bank.  And 
here  the  United  States  Bank  remained  until  its  removal  to  the 
site  of  the  Exchange  Building. 

THE   PHILLIPSES   AND   THEIR  TRAGIC  STORY 

The  site  of  the  Easton  Building,  across  the  street  on  the  south- 
east corner  of  State  and  Devonshire  Streets,  belonged  originally 
to  Henry  Webb,  a  merchant  who  came  to  Boston  in  1637  from 
Salisbury,  England,  and  was  so  prosperous  that,  when  he  died  in 
1660,  he  left  an  estate  of  almost  8,000  pounds, — quite  a  fortune 
for  those  days.  One  hundred  pounds  was  bequeathed  to  the 
town  for  a  poorhouse,  which,  with  120  pounds  left  by  Captain 
Robert  Keayne,  his  next-door  neighbor,  enabled  Boston  in  1662 
to  build  a  poorhouse  on  the  Common,  next  to  the  Granary  Bury- 
ing-ground.  The  corner  property,  which  comprised  a  large  stone 
house,  garden,  and  yard,  with  a  spring  and  a  well,  and  a  smali 
piece  on  the  opposite  side  of  Pudding  Lane,  Webb  exchanged  in 
1656  for  the  house  and  lot  of  Henry  Phillips  on  Cornhill,  now 


STATE  STREET,   CORNERS  OF    CONGRESS   SQUARE   AND    DEVONSHIRE   STREET 
IN  1840.     (From  an  old  print) 


JHL 


SOUTH   SIDE   OF    STATE  STREET   FROM    WASHINGTON    TO    DEVONSHIRE   STREET 
IN  1840.     (From  an  old  print) 


18  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

Washington  Street,  where  Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  the  book  dealers, 
used  to  be.  Webb  subsequently  bequeathed  to  Harvard  Uni- 
versity this  Phillips  property  which  ran  from  Cornhill  to  the  lane. 

The  Phillips  family  figured  long  in  the  book-dealing  world  of 
Boston,  ran  for  years  the  ancient  tavern,  known  as  the  Rose 
and  Crown,  on  the  site,  of  the  Easton  Building,  and  one  of  the 
grandsons  of  the  original  Phillips  figured  in  the  famous  Phillips- 
Woodbridge  duel.  Phillips,  who  was  a  butcher,  came  to  New 
England  in  1637,  married  Mary  D wight,  said  to  have  been  the 
first  female  white  child  born  in  Dedham.  He  joined  the  Artil- 
lery Company  in  1640,  was  chosen  clerk  of  the  Market  and  con- 
stable, and  in  1672  represented  Hadley  at  the  General  Court.  He 
was  one  of  the  twenty -five  citizens  who  in  1658  petitioned  the 
General  Court  against  the  Quakers,  as  "professed  enemies  of  the 
Christian  Magistrate  and  seducers  of  the  people."  And  he  also 
was  one  of  the  hundred  and  four  citizens  who  contributed  to  com- 
plete the  Town  House  when  Captain  Keayne's  legacy  proved 
too  small.  His  donation  of  five  pounds  was  considered  a  liberal 
one  for  that  time. 

Just  when  he  opened  the  Rose  and  Crown  Tavern  does  not 
appear,  but  in  1678  he  moved  his  family  to  a  brick  house  he  had 
built  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  lane.  The  sign  which  he  put 
over  the  entrance  of  the  tavern  seemed  to  cause  some  indignation, 
for  a  letter  written  from  New  England  in  1682  says  "a  vintner 
in  Boston  put  up  a  new  sign  called  the  Rose  and  Crown  with 
two  naked  boys  as  supporters.  The  sight  disturbed  one  Justice 
S — r,  who  commanded  it  down  and  away  were  the  boys  sent  to 
the  carvers,  but  the  unlucky  dog  of  a  carver  sent  them  back  two 
charming  girles.  This  angered  the  Justice  more  and  the  sign  was 
summoned  before  the  wise  Court  where  they  gravely  determined 
that  the  girles  should  be  encircled  with  garlands  of  roses."  All 
of  which  shows  that  the  landlord  was  of  a  determined  as  well 
as  of  a  humorous  turn  of  mind.  Phillips  died  in  1687,  and  was 
interred  with  a  full  military  funeral  as  befitted  a  member  of  the 
Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Company,  leaving  an  estate  of 
1,550  pounds. 

His  son  Henry  was  the  first  book  dealer  in  the  family,  serving 


DEVONSHIRE  STREET  19 

.in  apprenticeship  with  Hezekiab  I  sher,  who  had  a  shop  in  .John 
Wilson's  house,  which  he  had  bought.  J I  is  first  book  was  one  of 
Cotton   Mather's  sermons,  and  he  was  succeeded   by   his  brother 

Samuel,  who  was  a  publisher  of  much  note  in  early  days,  his 
authors  being'  Increase  Mather,  John  Danforth,  Benjamin  Wads- 
worth,  Samuel  Willard,  Gilbert  Burnet,  Deodat  Lawson,  Solomon 
Stoddard,  and  Cotton  Mather,  the  leading  literary  lights  of  the 
seventeenth  century. 

In  170.5  he  bought  for  475  pounds  from  his  mother  the  Rose 
and  Crown,  thus  paying  approximately  $2,305  for  what  is  now  the 
site  of  the  Easton  Building.  Phillips  also  served  as  first  sergeant 
of  the  Artillery  Company.  He  set  his  son  Gillam  up  in  business, 
and  when  he  died  in  1720,  leaving  an  enviable  reputation  as  hus- 
band, father,  and  citizen,  the  bulk  of  his  estate,  more  than  3,000 
pounds,  went  to  this  son,  who  had  married  Mary  Faneuil,  sister 
of  Peter  Faneuil. 

It  was  Henry,  Gillam's  younger  brother,  who  figured  in  the 
duel  with  Benjamin  Woodbridge.  Henry,  a  graduate  of  Harvard, 
had  gone  into  business  with  his  brother  Gillam,  and  in  1728  with 
Gillam,  Daniel  Henchman,  Thomas  Hancock,  and  Benjamin 
Faneuil,  father  of  Peter,  established  at  Milton  Lower  Falls  the 
first  paper-mill  in  New  England,  receiving  a  patent  from  the  Gen- 
eral Court.  The  site  of  the  old  mill  is  now  owned  by  the  Tileston, 
Hollingsworth  Company,  manufacturers  of  paper. 

The  tragic  story  of  Henry  begins  at  the  Royal  Exchange 
Tavern,  which  stood  on  the  east  corner  of  State  and  Exchange 
Streets,  was  kept  by  a  jolly  mason  named  Luke  Vardy,  and  wras 
called  at  the  time  by  the  leading  men  of  the  towm  "Vardy's." 
Here  the  young  men  of  rank  were  wont  to  congregate  to  sip 
their  rum,  enjoy  the  card  table,  and  to  gossip.  Henry  Phillips 
and  Benjamin  Woodbridge,  scions  of  the  best  families  and  hardly 
out  of  their  teens,  Phillips  being  three-and-twenty,  and  Wood- 
bridge  twenty,  met  here  on  the  evening  of  July  3,  1728,  and  the 
quarrel  which  started  at  the  card-table  culminated  in  a  challenge. 

The  sun  had  hardly  sunk  behind  the  western  hills  beyond  the 
Charles  on  the  warm  summer  evening,  when  the  impetuous 
youths,   unaccompanied,   met  on  the  Common,  near  the   Great 


20  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

Elm,  which  stood  not  far  from  the  Soldiers'  Monument.  Phillips 
was  "fair,  well  set  and  well  dressed,"  and  Woodbridge  was  of  simi- 
lar make-up.  Phillips  escaped  with  a  few  trifling  body  wounds 
and  cut  fingers;  but  Woodbridge  was  pierced  under  the  right 
breast,  the  blade  coming  out  at  the  small  of  his  back.  He  fell, 
bleeding,  to  the  greensward,  while  his  opponent  rushed  off  for  sur- 
geons. A  fog  enveloped  everything  when  the  surgeons  reached 
the  Common,  and,  not  discovering  Woodbridge,  they  supposed 
he  had  been  cared  for.  His  body,  stiff  and  cold,  was  found  on 
the  grass  the  next  morning  about  three  o'clock  by  some  servants, 
and  was  removed  to  the  house  of  Major  Sewall,  near  the  Com- 
mon, where  Woodbridge  lived. 

Phillips,  greatly  overcome  by  sorrow  and  fear,  was  taken  about 
midnight  by  his  brother  Gillam,  Peter  Faneuil,  and  several  friends 
to  the  house  of  Colonel  Estes  Hatch  and  concealed,  while  arrange- 
ments were  made  for  his  escape. 

Gillam  secured  from  John  Winslow,  captain  of  the  pink  "  Molly," 
which  lay  off  Long  Wharf,  a  boat  to  take  Phillips  to  the  British 
man-of-war  "Sheerness,"  which  was  anchored  between  Castle 
and  Spectacle  Islands.  It  was  arranged  with  Captain  Winslow, 
who  had  been  a  neighbor  on  Pudding  Lane,  that  Henry  should 
take  the  boat  at  Gibbs's  Wharf,  which  jutted  from  the  south- 
eastern margin  of  Fort  Hill,  as  the  place  was  least  frequented. 
Henry  Phillips,  accompanied  by  Peter  Faneuil,  proceeded  down 
the  dark  and  narrow  Belcher's  Lane  to  Gibbs's  Wharf,  while  Cap- 
tain Winslow  and  Gillam  went  out  to  the  "  Molly  "  to  pick  up  four 
of  the  crew,  as  it  was  a  long  row  to  the  "Sheerness."  They  then 
went  to  Gibbs's  Wharf,  picked  up  Henry,  while  Peter  Faneuil  re- 
mained on  shore.  The  rowers  lost  their  way  in  the  fog,  running 
ashore  on  Dorchester  Neck  and  not  reaching  the  "Sheerness" 
until  long  after  midnight. 

In  the  mean  time  the  news  of  the  duel  spread  about  Boston, 
and  during  most  of  the  night  people  searched  the  Common  for 
Woodbridge,  while  constables  looked  for  Phillips.  Governor 
Dummer  issued  a  proclamation  for  the  arrest  of  Phillips,  and 
notices  were  nailed  to  the  Town  Pump  and  at  many  of  the  corners. 
The  "Sheerness"  sailed  during  the  night,  and  Phillips  made  his 


STATE  STREET,   LOOKING  INTO  WILSONS  LANE  TOWARDS  DOCK  SQUARE 
Before  the  widening-  of  Wilson's  Lane  in  1872  for  Devonshire  Street 


22  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 


way  to  France,  where  he  died  at  Rochelle,  May  27,  1729.     His 
brother  Gillam  lived,  however,  until  1770. 

The  Phillips  property  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century 
was  the  site  of  a  three-story  brick  house,  the  residence  and  office 
of  Abiel  Smith,  a  wealthy  merchant.  At  the  middle  of  the  last 
century  the  State  Street  side  of  the  property  contained  offices  of 
builders  and  the  Mechanics'  Exchange,  while  lawyers  and  brokers 
occupied  the  Devonshire  Street  side.  At  the  time  of  the  great 
fire  in  1872  the  Easton  Building  corner  was  occupied,  on  the 
ground  floor,  by  the  First  National  Bank,  while  small  business 
interests  were  on  the  upper  floors. 

The  famous  Exchange  Coffee  House  stood  across  Devonshire 
Street,  adjoining  Congress  Square  on  the  lot  which  had  belonged 
to  Robert  Scott,  a  merchant.  It  was  the  largest  building  of  its 
kind  when  it  was  built,  1804,  covering  almost  one-third  of  an  acre 
and  being  seven  stories  in  height.  It  cost  $500,000,  was  a  mon- 
strosity of  taste,  although  every  effort  was  put  forth  to  make  it 
architecturally  beautiful.  It  ruined  most  of  those  who  backed  it. 
Its  shape  was  like  a  triangle  with  the  apex  cut  off,  and  six  marble 
Ionic  pilasters  in  front  decorated  its  entrance  on  Congress  Street. 
It  contained  two  hundred  and  ten  rooms,  had  Masonic  meeting- 
rooms  in  the  upper  story,  and  a  Merchants'  Exchange,  or  Great 
Meeting  Room,  on  the  ground  floor.  It  was  the  terminus  of  the 
stage  routes,  the  resort  of  most  of  the  men  of  the  town,  and  the 
pride  of  Boston.  Here,  during  the  War  of  1812,  Captain  Hull, 
the  commander  of  the  "Constitution,"  put  up;  and  here,  too, 
stayed  Captain  Dacres,  who  became  Hull's  prisoner  after  the 
capture  of  the  "Guerriere"  by  the  "Constitution." 

"Dacres,  my  dear  fellow,  I'm  glad  to  see  you,"  said  Hull  to 
Dacres  as  the  latter  came  aboard  the  "Constitution"  after  the 
engagement. 

"Damn  it,  I  suppose  you  are,"  replied  Dacres. 

President  Monroe  was  entertained  here  in  1817  at  an  elaborate 
dinner  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  at  which  were  present  many  of  the 
celebrities  of  the  town  and  nation,  including  ex-President  John 
Adams,  Governor  Brooks,  Justices  Parker  and  Story,  Commodores 
Perry,  Bainbridge,  and  Hull. 


CORNER  OF  FRANKLIN  AND  DEVONSHIRE  STREETS 
Before  tlie  lire  of  187-2 


WINTHROP  SQUARE,  DEVONSHIRE   AND  OTIS  STREETS 
Before  the  tire  of  1872 


THE   DEVONSHIRl! 
OF  BOST 

Drawn  from  Lan 

according-  to  the  ll 

and  otherr 


THIS  MAP  SHOWS  SOME   OF  BOSTON'S  FIRST  PATHS  AI' 

SITES  OF  THE  HOUSES - 

Mylne  Streete  is  now  Summer  Street;  Fortt  Streete.  which  led  to  Fort  Hill 
House  Lane  is  School  Street:  Prison  Lane  is  Court  Street :  Blott's  Lane  is  Winter  Stn 
Pudding:  Lane,  now  Devonshire  Street :  Springate  is  now  Spring:  Lane  and  Water  Stro 


STREET  SECTION 
sT   EN   1645 

s  Pla,n  of  Boston, 
ok  of  Possessions 
uthorities 


HIGHWAYS   WITH   THEIR   ORIGINAL  NAMES   AND  THE 
THE  FIRST  SETTLERS 

■re  the  Town  Fort  was.  is  Milk  Street:  High  Streete  is  Washington  Street :  School 
Cove  Streete  is  Adams  Square ;  Market  Streete  is  State  Street :  A  is  the  alley  later 


26  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

"All  lodgers  shall  try  to  be  in  by  eleven  o'clock,  the  retiring 
hour,"  read  one  of  the  queer  regulations.  The  house  was  burned 
in  1818,  rebuilt  and  opened  in  1822,  and  finally  closed  April 
1,  1854,  when  it  was  torn  down  to  make  room  for  other  buildings, 
among  which  was  the  City  Exchange  on  Devonshire  Street. 

OFFICES    OF    THE    "COLUMBIAN    CENTINEL"    AND    THE    "NEWS 

LETTER" 

Between  the  Old  Coffee  House  and  State  Street  was  published 
the  Columbian  Centinel,  which  was  established  in  1784  by  Ben- 
jamin Russell,  one  of  the  guards  who  witnessed  Major  Andre's 
execution  as  a  spy. 

The  Due  de  Chartres,  who  subsequently  became  Louis  Philippe, 
wrote,  while  an  exile  in  Boston,  articles  on  European  politics  for 
the  Centinel  which  gave  it  a  great  local  reputation.  The  due  had 
a  map  of  the  foreign  battlefields  which  enabled  the  Centinel  to 
describe  the  battles  most  accurately.  And  Louis  Napoleon  is 
said  to  have  been  a  frequenter  of  the  office  of  the  paper  when 
he  was  in  Boston.  It  was  published  on  Wednesdays  and  Satur- 
days, and  was  long  the  Federal  organ  of  New  England.  Russell 
ran  it  until  about  1824. 

The  Boston  News  Letter,  long  supposed  to  have  been  the  first 
paper  printed  in  America,  was  published  on  Pudding  Lane,  near 
the  site  of  the  original  post-office,  at  the  shop  of  John  Allen,  who 
from  1707  till  1711  printed  it  for  John  Campbell,  the  postmaster, 
who  started  the  News  Letter  in  1704.  As  postmaster,  Campbell 
had  the  franking  privilege  and  was  also  the  recipient  of  much  early 
news.  He  was  the  logical  editor  of  the  "lokel"  paper.  He  came 
over  in  the  ship  with  Dunton,  the  bookseller;  and,  as  Dunton 
said,  so  stormy  was  the  passage  "even  the  sailors,  who  seldom 
pray,  came  to  the  passengers  desiring  for  God's  sake  we  would  all 
go  to  prayers.  The  sailors  asking  us  to  pray  put  me  in  mind  of 
that  saying,  'He  that  would  learn  to  pray,  let  him  go  to  sea,'  at 
which  several  of  us  did." 

"His  aspect  has  something  so  extraordinary  in  it,"  said  Dunton, 
describing  Allen,  "that  whoever  does  but  look  upon  him  will  make 


FRANKLIN  STREET,  LOOKING  DOWN  DEVONSHIRE  STREET 
Before  the  great  fire  of  187-2 


■28  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

no  scruple  to  give  him  the  title  of  My  Lord.  He  is  master  of 
an  Excellent  Mediocrity  of  temper,  and  under  some  more  than 
Ordinary  disappointment  I  have  known  him  to  drown  his  sadness 
in  a  glass  of  cyder." 

The  redoubtable  Allen  continued  to  print  the  News  Letter  until 
the  fire  of  1711,  when  his  house  was  rebuilt  and  he  remained  in 
business  until  1727.  He  was  a  publisher  as  well.  His  earliest 
Boston  imprint  was  in  1690,  and  his  last  was  in  1724.  He  pub- 
lished also  Increase  Mather's  "Mystery  of  Israel's  Salvation." 
On  the  opposite  side  of  the  lane,  about  where  the  Boston  Globe 
office  now  is,  Abel  Bowen  printed  the  Boston  News  Letter  and 
City  Record  in  1825,  and  issued  his  "Picture  of  Boston,  or  Citi- 
zens' and  Strangers'  Guide  to  the  Metropolis  of  Massachusetts 
and  its  Environs."  To  him  belongs  the  distinction  of  introduc- 
ing wood  engraving  in  Boston.  The  site  of  this  old  printing  and 
engraving  shop  immediately  after  the  fire  of  1711  was  a  small 
kitchen  that  Thomas  Knight,  a  shopkeeper,  had  on  the  site  of 
the  Globe  Building.  The  land  was  subsequently  occupied  by 
"the  North  National  Bank.  The  owner  in  1639  was  Richard 
Fairbanks,  the  town's  first  postmaster,  and  later  it  was  part  of 
the  land  of  Thomas  Oliver,  a  surgeon  of  standing  and  an  elder 
of  the  First  Church,  who  was  one  of  the  earliest  owners  of  the 
Great  Spring.  So  highly  esteemed  was  he  that,  when  horses  were 
forbidden  to  feed  on  the  Common,  his  horse  was  excepted. 

DEVONSHIRE   STREET  AND  THE  GREAT  SPRING 

The  Great  Spring,  which  has  perpetuated  its  name  in  the  short 
thoroughfare  known  as  Spring  Lane  and  which  early  played  so 
important  a  part  in  the  welfare  of  the  town,  was  a  little  distance 
west  of  the  Water  Street  end  of  Devonshire  Street.  It  was  called 
.at  various  times  the  Governor's  Spring,  or  the  Common  Spring, 
and  may  have  been  the  "excellent  spring"  to  which  Blackstone 
referred  when  he  invited  Winthrop  and  his  companions  to  Boston. 
It  is  now  marked  by  an  inscription  on  the  Winthrop  Building. 

The  cattle,  as  well  as  the  dames  and  the  goodmen  of  the  town, 
must  have  had  a  fondness  for  the  delicious  water,  for  in  1661  the 


DEVONSHIRE  STREET  20 

selectmen  gave  Captain  James  Johnson  and  Amos  Richardson 
permission  to  set  a  fence  about  the  spring  for  the  better  accommo- 
dation of  the  town  in  the  use  of  the  water,  and  to  preserve  the 
spring  from  annoyances  by  cattle.  The  old  name  for  the  lane, 
"Spring  Gate,"  came  from  the  fact  that  a  gate  opened  the  way 
in  the  fence  about  the  spring.  It  was  not  until  1708  that  the 
town  officially  gave  it  the  name  of  Spring  Lane.  As  buildings 
were  gradually  erected  on  the  land  about  the  spring,  the  spring 
slowly  dried  up  and  finally  disappeared  about  the  middle  of  the 
last  century,  for  the  pump  which  was  put  over  it  failed  to  draw. 
The  old  spring,  however,  reappeared  in  1869  in  the  cellar  of  the 
new  post-office,  between  Milk  and  Water  Streets,  endangering 
the  foundations  and  causing  much  annoyance  to  the  builders. 
The  little  brook  trickled  from  the  spring  across  Pudding  Lane 
into  Davis's  Creek,  or  Shelter  Cove,  which  covered  what  is  now 
Post-office  Square. 

The  Atlantic  approached  quite  near  the  centre  of  Boston  in 
those  days,  for  the  hull  of  a  vessel  covered  with  canvas  and  frayed 
with  tarred  rope  was  dug  up  at  the  corner  of  Congress  and  Water 
Streets;  and  across  Pudding  Lane,  running  toward  Congress 
Street,  was  Winthrop's  Marsh,  while  the  south  end  of  JoylifTs 
Lane  terminated  in  the  marshy  meadows  between  what  is  now 
Milk  and  Franklin  Streets. 

WITCHCRAFT   DAYS 

The  site  of  the  Second  National  Bank  was  the  home  of  Ann 
Hibbins,  the  sister  of  Governor  Bellingham,  who  was  executed 
as  a  witch  in  the  seventeenth  century.  Her  husband,  William 
Hibbins,  a  merchant  from  London,  built  a  house,  stable,  and 
garden  at  what  is  now  the  southerly  corner  of  Spring  Lane  and 
Devonshire  Street.  His  land  ran  to  the  Spring  Gate  at  the  north, 
and  south  to  Fort  Street,  as  Milk  was  then  called,  and  along  each 
side  of  Pudding  Lane,  comprising  not  only  the  site  of  the  Second 
National  Bank,  but  Kidder,  Peabody  &  Co.  and  the  New  England 
Trust  Company,  together  with  a  portion  of  the  post-office  lot. 
Like  many  of  Boston's  settlers,  Hibbins  was  a  gentleman  of  edu- 


30  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

cation  and  means,  and  rose  to  considerable  prominence  in  the 
colony,  becoming  deputy  to  the  General  Court  in  1641-42, 
and  magistrate  from  1643  until  his  death  in  1654.  After  his 
death  Ann,  his  widow,  sold  in  1655  the  property  at  Spring  and 
Pudding  Lanes  to  Matthew  Coy,  a  barber. 

"Her  new  house  near  unto  the  water  spring,"  as  the  old  deed 
runs,  "and  next  unto  the  house  she  now  dwells  in,  with  ten  feet 
of  land  along  the  south  side  to  her  orchard  at  the  east  end,  next 
unto  Henry  Bridgeman,  with  apple  and  cherry,  and  all  other 
fruit  trees  then  growing." 

No  lane  is  mentioned  in  the  deed,  but,  when  Coy  in  1668  sold 
the  house  and  land  to  John  Joyliff,  it  measured  fifty-nine  feet  on 
the  west  southwest,  and  on  a  "lane  leading  to  the  dwelling  house 
of  John  Joyliff." 

Beautiful,  indeed,  must  have  been  the  site  of  the  Second  Na- 
tional Bank  in  the  days  of  Ann  Hibbins.  To  the  west  rose  the 
hills  of  Trimount,  but  a  stone's  throw  away  bubbled  the  crystal 
waters  of  the  Great  Spring,  past  her  door  trickled  the  brook 
through  which  the  spring  found  its  way  to  the  ocean,  which  was 
in  plain  view  at  the  east,  while  north  and  south  of  Ann's 
house  were  meadows  dotted  with  apple  and  cherry   trees. 

Ann's  misfortunes  seem  to  have  sprung  from  her  high  temper 
and  sharp  tongue,  which  were  acidified  by  the  financial  losses 
during  the  latter  part  of  her  husband's  life.  These  imbittered 
her  naturally  crabbed  disposition,  and  finally  her  quarrelous  ways 
brought  upon  her  the  censure  of  the  meeting-house.  All  of  this 
smoothed  the  way  to  the  accusation  of  witchcraft  made  against 
her  by  her  neighbors.  The  specific  charges  are  not  clear.  One 
of  them  seems  to  have  been  telling  her  neighbors,  whom  she  had 
seen  whispering  together  and  glancing  sideways  at  her,  that  she 
knew  they  were  talking  about  her. 

Her  first  conviction  was  in  1655,  but  the  magistrates,  influenced 
doubtless  by  her  social  connections  as  well  as  the  lack  of  good 
evidence  against  her,  set  aside  the  verdict,  and  in  1656  she  was 
tried  again  before  the  General  Court  and  condemned.  Passing 
strange  in  those  days  were  the  tests  to  which  a  supposed  witch 
was  put.     She  was  "searched"  or  examined  to  see  if  the  devil 


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32  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

had  made  any  strange  marks  upon  her,  and  was  "watched"  at 
night  to  see  if  any  evil  imps  in  the  shape  of  toads,  cats,  or  snakes, 
and  like  animals  that  were  thought  to  attend  a  witch  at  night, 
appeared  through  a  hole  which  was  made  in  the  floor,  the  sus- 
pect in  the  mean  time  being  placed,  with  her  legs  crossed,  in  an  un- 
comfortable position  on  a  table.  Ann's  "searching"  and  "watch- 
ing" revealed,  so  far  as  we  know,  nothing  unusual.  In  her  will, 
which  she  complacently  made  before  her  execution  on  the  gallows 
of  Boston  Neck,  June  19,  1656,  she  mentions  a  "gold  wedding 
ring,  a  taffety  cloak,  silk  gown,  and  kirtle,  pink  colored  petticoat, 
and  money  in  the  desk." 

"She  was  hanged  for  having  more  wit  than  her  neighbors,"  said 
John  Norton,  a  celebrated  Boston  divine.  And  some  at  the  time 
thought  her  a  saint,  and  some  a  witch,  so  divided  was  the  town  in 
its  opinion  of  Ann. 

LATER  DAYS   OF  THE   SITE 

A  part  of  Governor  Winthrop's  lot  east  of  the  Hibbins  lot  was 
finally  sold  for  500  pounds  to  John  Winslow,  brother  of  the  gov- 
ernor of  New  Plymouth,  who  married  Mary  Chilton,  the  first  to 
land  at  Plymouth  Rock.  It  then  comprised  ninety-two  feet 
on  Spring  Lane  and  seventy-four  feet  on  JoylifTs  Lane,  and  was 
sold  in  1719  to  Jonas  Clarke.  Winslow  in  1689,  while  at  the  island 
of  Nevis,  learned  that  the  Prince  of  Orange  had  been  declared 
king,  and,  knowing  how  welcome  the  news  would  be  to  the  people 
of  New  England,  he  had  the  declaration  copied  and  brought  it 
to  Boston.  Governor  Andros  sent  for  Winslow,  and  demanded  to 
see  the  declaration,  and,  when  Winslow  refused  to  show  it,  he  was 
thrown  into  prison  for  "bringing  into  the  country  a  traitorous  and 
treasonable  libel."  It  was  acts  of  oppression  such  as  this  by  Gov- 
ernor Andros  which  led  to  the  uprising  that  culminated  in  the 
Council  of  Safety,  April  20,  1689,  Andros  being  put  into  prison 
and  ultimately  recalled. 

The  three-story  wooden  house  which  stood  on  the  lot  of  Ann 
Hibbins's  house  was  in  1783  the  home  of  George  Richard  Minot 
and  his  wife.     Minot  was  a  son  of  Stephen  Minot,  a  Boston  mer- 


DEVONSHIRE  STREET  83 

chant,  who  had  married  Sarah,  the  daughter  of  Jonas  Clarke. 
Minot,  the  younger,  was  judge  of  the  Probate  and  the  Court  of 
CommoD  Pleas,  and  also  clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
for  ten  years.  He  wrote  a  continuation  of  Governor  Hutchin- 
son's History  of  Massachusetts  and  also  a  "History  of  the  In- 
surrection of  1786."  The  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  was 
organized  January  24,  1791,  in  this  house,  the  original  members 
being  Rev.  Messrs.  Jeremy  Belknap,  John  Eliot,  James  Free- 
man, and  Peter  Thacher;  Hon.  Messrs.  James  Sullivan,  William 
Tudor,  James  Winthrop,  William  Baylies,  George  R.  Minot, 
Thomas  Wallcut,  Esq. 

FALL  OF   A    PIRATE 

Witchcraft  and  piracy  were  near  neighbors  on  Devonshire 
Street  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century;  for  next  to 
Ann  Hibbins  was  the  estate  of  Captain  Thomas  Cromwell,  buc- 
caneer, much  of  whose  story  may  be  found  in  the  Journal  of  Win- 
throp. His  estate  comprised  most  of  the  land  now  owned  by  the 
New  England  Trust  Company. 

At  a  time  when  piracy  was  an  inviting  stepping-stone  to  fame 
and  fortune  and  the  beginning  of  many  a  gentleman,  Cromwell, 
a  London  orphan,  like  some  other  better-known  London  orphans, 
went  to  sea  and  soon  rose  to  be  an  able  seaman.  As  such,  he  first 
appeared  in  Massachusetts  in  1636,  and  sailed  in  and  out  of  the 
port  on  many  a  shady  cruise.  His  opportunity  came  in  1646, 
when  he  sailed  in  the  frigate  "Queen  of  Bohemia,"  with  Captain 
Jackson,  who  had  a  commission  from  the  Earl  of  Warwick  to  en- 
gage in  an  expedition  to  the  Spanish  main,  which  was  tantamount 
to  saying  "be  a  buccaneer." 

Under  a  "commission  of  deputation"  from  Captain  Jackson, 
Cromwell  was  not  slow  to  seize  his  opportunity,  and  the  expedi- 
tion which  he  commanded  took  four  or  five  Spanish  vessels  with 
great  riches.  A  strong  northwest  wind  forced  Cromwell  and 
three  of  the  ships,  which  were  frigates  of  cedar  wood  of  about 
sixty  or  eighty  tons,  manned  with  eighty  men,  into  Plymouth 
Harbor  at  a  time  when  the  town  was  in  dire  straits  from  lack  of 
money  and  wras  almost   deserted.     The  buccaneers  spent   freely 


34  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

and  gave  as  liberally  during  their  two  weeks'  stay,  and  quite  set 
the  old  place  on  its  feet.  Up  and  down  the  main  streets  swag- 
gered the  buccaneers,  royally  drunk,  jingling  their  pockets  full 
of  silver,  and  crowding  the  good  citizens  off  the  walk.  One  of 
Cromwell's  men,  a  desperate  drunkard,  grew  too  boisterous  and 
drew  his  cutlass,  when  Cromwell  reproved  him  and  promptly 
knocked  him  down  with  the  hilt  of  his  sword.  The  sailor  refused 
to  have  the  wound  attended,  mortification  set  in,  and  he  died. 
Cromwell  was  tried  and  acquitted.  He  saw  to  it  that  the  sea- 
man had  a  splendid  funeral,  giving  each  one  of  the  mourners  an 
ell  of  black  taffeta,  and  had  the  body  accompanied  by  the  trained 
band. 

Upon  reaching  Boston,  whither  Cromwell  soon  sailed,  he  gained 
the  good-will  of  the  governor  by  presenting  him  a  sedan  chair 
worth  about  50  pounds,  which  was  to  have  been  presented  by 
the  viceroy  of  Mexico  to  his  sister.  Although  Cromwell's  repu- 
tation was  somewhat  spotted  and  Governor  Winthrop  had  no 
love  for  him,  he  had  the  good  trait  of  never  forgetting  his  old 
friends,  particularly  those  who  had  befriended  him  when  he  was 
not  so  prosperous.  For,  although  he  and  his  men  had  "much 
money  and  a  great  store  of  plate  and  jewels  of  great  value,  he  chose 
to  lodge  with  the  poor  man  in  a  thatched  house,  and  said,  when  he 
was  offered  the  best  in  town,  that  the  poor  man  had  entertained 
him  when  others  would  not,  and  therefore  he  would  not  leave  him 
now  when  he  could  do  him  good." 

He  made  another  voyage  to  the  West  Indies,  and,  after  being 
out  three  years,  returned  and  retired  a  rich  man.  He  bought 
from  Richard  Sherman,  a  clock  maker,  John  Matthew,  a  tailor, 
and  Simon  Matthew,  a  tanner,  their  garden  lots,  extending  from 
the  northwest  corner  of  Devonshire  and  Milk  Streets  toward  Spring 
Lane.  After  he  had  settled  in  Boston,  complaints  were  sent  from 
the  West  Indies  to  England  about  him.  The  Earl  of  Warwick 
promptly  put  in  a  claim  for  a  share  of  Cromwell's  spoils,  asserting 
that  Cromwell  had  sailed  under  Jackson's  letter  of  marque  from 
the  earl.  History  does  not  enlighten  us  as  to  the  result  of  the 
Earl  of  Warwick's  claims.  Cromwell  presented  six  bells  which 
he  had  taken  from  a  Spanish  ship  to  Boston.     One  of  them  was 


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36  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

used  for  a  clock,  which  is  now  in  the  old  State  House.  He  en- 
joyed but  three  years  of  his  luxurious  retirement  in  New  Eng- 
land, for  in  1649  he  died  from  injuries  received  by  being  thrown 
from  his  horse  upon  his  rapier  hilt.  Some  of  his  neighbors  were 
so  unkind  as  to  observe  that  they  saw  something  of  the  hand 
of  God  in  it,  as  his  own  death  was  caused  by  the  same  instru- 
ment as  that  with  which  he  had  killed  one  of  his  crew. 

DAYS   OF  SMALL  TENANTS  AND   LITTLE  BUSINESSES 

In  the  days  of  John  Wilson  and  Ann  Hibbins  the  site  of  the 
National  Shawmut  Bank  comprised  the  lands  of  Robert  Scott, 
a  merchant,  and  William  Parsons,  a  carpenter,  or  sley  maker  (the 
sley  being  a  part  of  the  weaver's  loom).  As  "old  Will  Parsons," 
he  eked  out,  in  his  old  age,  a  precarious  existence  by  selling  drinks 
before  his  door.  Parsons  came  to  Boston  in  1635,  but,  returning 
to  London  in  1660,  took  part  in  the  riot  of  the  Fifth  Monarchy 
Men,  led  by  his  Boston  neighbor,  Thomas  Venner.  Unlike  Ven- 
ner,  who  was  captured  and  executed,  Parsons's  quick  wit  and 
nimble  legs  enabled  him  to  escape  in  the  crowd,  and  he  lost  no 
time  in  returning  to  Boston,  where  he  lived  until  1702.  Before 
his  death  he  sold  his  lot  to  Henry  Webb. 

On  the  northeast  corner  of  Devonshire  and  Water  Streets,  dur- 
ing the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  stood  the  counting- 
room  of  the  Boston  Type  and  Stereotype  Foundry.  It  was  sub- 
sequently moved  to  Spring  Lane  and  Devonshire  Street,  now  the 
site  of  the  Second  National  Bank.  At  the  time  of  the  great  fire 
the  Shawmut  Bank  corner  was  occupied  by  the  Boston  Post,  pub- 
lished by  Beals,  Greene  &  Co.  Across  the  street  on  the  northwest 
corner  were  in  1644  the  garden  and  shop  of  Abraham  Hagborne, 
who  first  rented  his  place  of  business  from  the  town.  He  subse- 
quently purchased  this  property,  and  in  1654  sold  the  house  and  lot 
to  Edward  Allen,  a  tailor.  At  one  time  it  was  occupied  by  a  hatter 
and  a  blacksmith.  In  1798  the  Shawmut  corner  was  the  three- 
story  wooden  home  of  Charles  Sigourney,  a  merchant  at  51  Long 
Wharf.  Mary  Langdon  kept  a  three-story  brick  boarding-house 
north  of  Sigourney,  and  at  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century 


DEVONSHIRE  STREET  S7 

there  were  on  the  block  between  Water  Sired  and  Slate  many 
barbers.  In  fact,  tailor  shops,  chair  makers,  carpenter  shop-,, 
and  small  dealers  of  every  description  occupied  much  of  the  north 
end  of  Devonshire  Street  about  1856. 

The  property  at  83  and  85  Devonshire  Street  was  bought  dnr- 
ing  the  latter  part  of  the  century  by  Abbott  Lawrence,  and  upon 
it  was  built  the  Lawrence  Building.  At  the  time  of  the  fire 
79  and  81  Devonshire  Street  were  part  of  the  rear  of  the  store  of 
Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  the  booksellers,  and  were  a  part  of  the  estate 
which  Henry  Webb  had  given  to  Harvard  College,  which  extended 
from  Washington  to  Devonshire  Street. 

VICISSITUDES   OF  THE   POST-OFFICE  SITE 

The  post-office  site,  according  to  the  Book  of  Possessions, 
about  1645  belonged  to  Ann  Hibbins  and  John  Spoore,  w7ho 
seems  to  have  been  an  unruly  fellow,  for  in  June,  1651,  he  was 
admonished  for  his  "insolent  bearing  witness  against  baptism 
and  singing  and  ye  church  covenant  as  no  ordinances  of  God." 
And  the  next  month  the  meeting-house  excommunicated  him. 
His  property  was  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  creek  that  flowed 
from  the  lane  down  Water  Street  into  Oliver's  Dock,  and  on  the 
east  by  the  marsh,  commonly  known  as  Winthrop's  Marsh,  which 
covered  the  margins  of  Post-office  Square. 

The  part  of  the  property  next  to  William  Hibbins,  comprising 
Spoore's  house  and  one  acre  of  land,  was  mortgaged  to  Nicholas 
Willis  in  1648  for  66  pounds,  and  in  1670  it  was  owned  by 
Deacon  Henry  Bridgham,  a  tanner,  who  built  a  mansion  near 
his  tan-yard,  which  subsequently  became  the  old  Julien  House. 
The  Julien  House  was  long  a  famous  inn  that  took  its  name  from 
its  proprietor,  whose  fame  has  been  perpetuated  in  his  delectable 
soups. 

Much  of  the  post-office  land  later  was  part  of  the  estate  of 
John  Joyliff,  a  man  of  wealth  and  consideration,  wrho  lived  from 
1663  till  1701,  the  time  of  his  death,  on  the  lane  which  took  his 
name.  He  was  for  many  years  a  selectman  of  the  town,  one  of 
the  patriots  in  1689  who  put  Andros  in  prison,  and  town  recorder 


38  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

in  1691.     In  1668  he  bought  the  house  and  land  which  Coy  had 
purchased  of  Ann  Hibbins. 

EARLY  VALUATIONS 

Along  the  Water  Street  side  of  the  post-office  was  the  land 
which  the  town  leased  to.  the  tanners  for  tan-yards.  A  portion 
of  this  town  land,  twenty-seven  feet  on  Joyliff 's  Lane  and  twenty- 
six  feet  on  the  highway,  Water  Street,  was  leased  to  Joyliff  in 
1669  for  seventy  years  for  two  shillings  six  pence  per  annum  in 
silver,  or  about  sixty  cents  a  year,  which  sounds  ridiculous  as 
compared  with  the  present  rentals.  On  this  town  property 
toward  Congress  Street  were  the  lime  pits.  An  idea  of  the  early 
valuation  of  the  property  in  this  vicinity  may  be  gained  by  the 
fact  that  the  town  leased  part  of  its  property  at  the  corner  of 
Devonshire  Street  and  Water  Street  to  a  Mrs.  Kezia  Harvey  in 
1738  for  seven  years  for  20  pounds  per  year,  and  in  1748  the  town 
sold  one  hundred  and  seven  feet  on  Water  Street  and  twenty-six 
feet  on  Joyliff's  Lane,  with  stable,  shop,  and  shed,  to  Captain 
John  Comrin  for  175  pounds,  one  quarter  down  and  three-quar- 
ters on  executing  the  deed. 

A  portion  of  the  Joyliff  estate  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Milk 
and  Devonshire  Streets  came  in  1714  into  the  hands  of  Samuel 
Keeling,  a  merchant,  who  was  captain  of  the  Ancient  and  Hon- 
orable Artillery,  a  justice,  and  a  man  of  prominence.  And  finally 
in  1755  this  portion  of  the  land  became  the  property  of  Edward 
and  William  Tyng.  The  buildings  here  escaped  the  fire  of  1760, 
and  the  east  side  of  Joyliff's  Lane  at  Water  Street  was  then 
widened  to  twenty -five  feet.  John  Rowe,  the  merchant  of  tea- 
party  fame,  bought  in  1763  John  Comrin's  estate,  and  the  family 
held  it  until  it  became  part  of  the  post-office  site,  about  the  middle 
of  the  last  century.  On  the  site  of  the  post-office  next  to  the 
Comrin  property  stood  the  Harvey  house,  which  early  in  1812 
was  leased  by  Bernard  Fitzpatrick,  an  Irish  tailor,  who  came  to 
Boston  in  1805;  and  here  was  born  in  November,  1812,  the  Right 
Rev.  John  Bernard  Fitzpatrick,  the  first  American,  native  born, 
bishop  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Fitzpatrick  died  Feb- 
ruary 13,  1866. 


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40  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

STACKPOLE  HOUSE 

The  southwesterly  corner  of  the  post-office  property  was  the 
site  of  the  famous  Stackpole  House,  which  was  long  one  of  Boston's 
most  noted  taverns,  at  a  time  when  a  tavern  played  an  important 
part  in  the  business  and  political  life  of  the  town.  In  1790,  when 
William  Stackpole,  a  wine  merchant,  bought  the  site  at  auction, 
it  was  held  by  the  trustees  of  the  estate  of  Joshua  Winslow.  Stack- 
pole's  daughter  married  Francis  Welch,  and  they  lived  there  until 
1821,  when  the  old  mansion  became  a  restaurant,  like  Julien's 
that  adjoined  it  on  the  east.  It  was  an  imposing  colonial  brick 
structure,  with  rooms  on  either  side  of  the  hall  that  ran  down  the 
centre.  The  politicians,  the  actors,  and  many  of  the  representa- 
tive men,  as  well  as  those  of  a  social  or  convivial  nature,  sipped 
their  toddy,  gossiped,  or  exchanged  the  news  in  the  front  yard 
under  the  two  great  spreading  horse-chestnut  trees  before  the  inn. 
Here  might  occasionally  be  seen  Daniel  Webster,  then  in  the 
zenith  of  his  powers,  the  inimitable  John  Brougham,  the  actor, 
and  the  lesser  lights  of  the  stage,  Old  Spear  and  Count  Joannes, 
and  other  men  about  town,  at  the  start  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
It  was  always  much  frequented  by  newspaper  men  and  Scotch- 
men. Up  and  down  the  front  yard  a  gorgeous  peacock  proudly 
strutted,  and  occasionally  a  trained  bear  performed.  Frederick 
Rouillard  became  the  proprietor  in  1823,  and  for  ten  years  after 
1839,  when  James  Ryan  succeeded  Rouillard,  the  old  house  was 
kept  as  a  reproduction  of  an  English  inn  of  a  century  previous. 
Alexander  Macgregor  took  charge  in  1849.  In  1855  George 
Bundy  was  landlord,  while  "Bill"  Stone,  remembered  for  his 
rumps  of  beef  and  his  English  ale,  succeeded  in  1858.  During 
the  last  years  of  the  Civil  War  Martin  Lynch  presided,  and 
in  1865  came  Edward  Evans,  who  ran  the  Hancock  House  in  Corn 
Court.  Its  proprietor  immediately  before  its  demolition  to 
make  room  for  the  post-office,  which  bought  the  site  in  1868, 
was  one  E.  Bennett. 

The  post-office  site  comprised  in  all  forty-five  thousand  square 
feet  of  land,  land  and  buildings  costing  $5,894,295.  It  was  bought 
by    piecemeal,   the  first   portion,   that    at    Congress   and  Water 


DEVONSHIRE  STREET  H 

Sheds,  being  bought  in  1S(!S.  while  the  rest  of  the  site  fliil  QOl 
become  available  until  after  the  fire  of  1872.  The  corner-stone 
was  laid  in  1871  by  President  l.  S.  Grant,  and  the  Devonshire 
Street  side  of  the  building  was  completed  in  1874,  but  it  was  not 
until  1885  that  the  building  was  finally  completed.  The  sculpt- 
ure work  was  the  work  of  Daniel  C.  French,  the  well-known 
American  artist.  At  the  time  of  its  completion  the  post-office 
was  the  most  costly  public  building  in  New  England.  It  escaped 
the  fire,  which  consumed  everything  about  it  and  only  chipped 
a  few  of  its  granite  blocks. 

THEATRE   ALLEY 

Theatre  Alley,  later  the  continuation  of  Devonshire  Street 
from  Milk  to  Franklin,  followed  the  line  of  Dinsdale's  Alley. 
Along  the  line  of  the  old  alley  on  Devonshire  Street  stand  now  on 
the  west  side  the  buildings  of  the  International  Trust  Company, 
the  Compton  Building,  the  Boston  Safe  Deposit  and  Trust  Com- 
pany, and  others,  while  on  the  east  side  are  the  Equitable  Build- 
ing, the  building  of  the  Master  Builders'  Association,  and  the 
John  Hancock  Insurance  Company  Building,  and  others.  The 
house  and  garden  of  William  Dinsdale,  a  cooper,  covered  the  land 
where  Devonshire  extends  from  Milk  to  Franklin,  and  was  occu- 
pied by  Dinsdale  as  early  as  1644.  He  must  have  been  a  man  of 
war  at  some  time,  for  at  his  death  in  1675  he  left  his  widow,  be- 
sides the  house  and  land,  four  muskets,  three  swords,  four  pairs  of 
bandoliers  and  a  corselet.  Three  Bibles,  a  trundle-bed,  and  a 
potter's  furnace  and  tools  were  also  inventoried.  But  five  of  his 
twTelve  children  survived  his  widow,  and  in  the  division  of  the  prop- 
erty it  was  clearly  stipulated  the  alley,  five  feet  three  inches  wide, 
to  the  rear  of  the  land  was  to  remain  open  forever.  It  was  known 
for  a  century  or  two  as  Dinsdale's  Alley,  and  later,  wThen  it  be- 
came Theatre  Alley,  the  width  varied  from  six  feet  six  inches  at 
Milk  Street  to  ten  feet  four  inches  at  Franklin  Place.  It  took 
its  name  Theatre  Alley  in  1796  because  it  was  the  way  to  the 
rear  of  the  Federal  Street  Theatre,  which  was  opened  on  February 
3,  1794.  The  prologue,  written  by  Robert  Treat  Paine,  was  de- 
livered by  the  manager  in  the  character  of  Apollo.     The  old 


42  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

theatre  was  burned  on  February  3,  1798.  Rebuilt  and  reopened 
October,  1798,  the  name  was  changed  to  the  Boston  Theatre, 
November  8,  1805,  to  the  Old  Drury  in  1828,  and  to  the  Odeon  in 
1835.  It  was  sold  to  make  way  for  stores  in  1851,  and  the  last 
play  was  given  in  1852. 

Theatre  Alley  was  an  irregular,  dark,  narrow  thoroughfare, 
lighted  even  in  daylight  by  a  few  oil  lamps,  and  so  muddy  that 
planks  were  needed  for  dry  navigation.  It  was  frequented  by 
those  whose  characters  would  bear  the  light  as  well  as  by  those 
whose  reputation  was  shady.  It  had  two  famous  resorts — the 
Blue  Bonnet  and  the  Bell  in  Hand — where  one  could  quench  his 
thirst.  The  Blue  Bonnet,  famous  for  its  dog  and  cock  fights, 
was  a  sporting  resort  well  known  to  the  rapid  men  of  the  town 
as  well  as  to  the  crooks  of  the  early  nineteenth  century ;  and  quite 
as  well  known,  but  eminently  more  respectable,  was  the  Bell  in 
Hand,  whose  familiar  sign,  a  hand  shaking  an  old-fashioned  dinner 
bell,  may  still  be  seen  on  Williams  Court,  the  Pi  Alley  of  to-day, 
where  it  still  invites  passers-by  to  enter. 

A  little  farther  along,  on  the  west  side  of  Franklin  Street,  a 
queer  old  lady,  Grace  Dunlap,  had  a  small  provision,  candy,  and 
tobacco  shop.  A  quaint  old  sideboard,  well  supplied  with 
Madeira,  Holland,  and  Jamaica,  at  which  one  could  serve  himself, 
stood  in  a  rear  parlor,  and  on  it  in  plain  view  was  a  little  box  into 
which  the  thirsty  could  put  the  money  equivalent  of  his  small 
nip.  Here,  too,  the  fashionables  of  the  early  Victorian  era 
gathered  to  gossip  while  they  "tuddled"  their  noses  from  snuff- 
boxes of  ancient  and  costly  patterns.  The  old  lady  moved  her 
shop  and  belongings  to  Province  Street  when  the  alley  was 
widened,  and  lost  thereby  nearly  all  her  trade.  The  east  corner 
of  the  alley,  at  the  corner  of  Milk  Street,  was  at  the  close  of  the 
Revolution  the  property  of  Joseph  Shed,  a  shopkeeper,  who 
lived  in  a  large  three-story  wooden  house,  and  next  to  him  in  a 
small  wooden  house  lived  his  son  Joseph,  a  provision  dealer. 

The  academy  of  Benjamin  Dearborn,  the  son  of  a  physician 
of  Portsmouth,  N.H.,  was  on  the  west  side  of  Theatre  Alley,  near 
Milk.  Dearborn  had  learned  the  printing  trade,  but,  preferring 
to  teach,  opened  a  school  in  Portsmouth,  and  finally  about  1790 


SHOWING    THE    PRESENT    SITE    OF    THE    POST-OFFICE    AT    THE    LEFT.    AND 

ANN   HIBBINS'S  CORNER,   NOW   OCCUPIED    BY  THE    SECOND 

NATIONAL   BANK,   ON   THE   RIGHT 


44  DEVONSHIRE   STREET 

came  to  Boston,  buying  of  James  Wakefield,  a  printer,  a  large 
three  story  wooden  house  on  Milk  Street  and  ten  thousand  square 
feet  of  land,  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet  of  which  bordered 
the  west  side  of  Theatre  Alley.  Dearborn  conducted  for  a  while 
the  academy  on  Theatre  Alley  as  a  day  school,  but  in  1793  he 
opened  also  an  evening  school  for  young  men.  He  published  the 
"Columbian  Grammar,"  the  "Perpetual  Diary,"  and  the  "Leni- 
ent System."  Among  the  inventions  which  occupied  his  leisure 
time  was  a  spring  balance  which  was  so  successful  that  soon 
after  1805  he  turned  his  academy  into  a  factory  for  making 
balances.  He  ran  the  factory  on  Theatre  Alley  until  1813, 
when  he  established  himself  on  Front  Street,  now  Harrison  Ave- 
nue, as  a  manufacturer  of  the  Dearborn  Platform  Balance.  He 
died  in  1832,  leaving  a  will  by  which  each  of  his  tenants  was 
to  have  three  dollars  annually  to  celebrate  Thanksgiving.  His 
property  was  bought  in  1846  by  George  W.  Gerrish,  of  Chelsea, 
who  built  many  of  the  better-known  brick  structures  of  Boston. 
As  the  Federal  Street  Theatre  became  known  as  the  Odeon  in  its 
later  days,  so  the  end  of  Theatre  Alley  was  changed  to  Odeon 
Alley,  and  was  so  known  from  1842  to  1846.  It  was  not  until 
1859  that  Devonshire  Street  was  extended  through  to  Franklin 
Street.  In  1861  it  was  extended  from  Franklin  to  Summer  Street 
through  Winthrop  Place,  which  was  laid  out  in  1821  through 
the  lots  that  formerly  belonged  to  the  estate  of  Ebenezer  Parsons. 
The  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  saw  great  changes  in  the 
streets  of  Boston,  particularly  between  the  time  from  1822  to 
1866,  when  the  pressure  of  population  made  more  and  more  annoy- 
ing and  detrimental  to  commerce  Boston's  narrow  and  crooked 
streets.  Accordingly,  we  find  much  money  being  spent  for  the 
widening  of  the  various  streets,  and  of  this  sum  Devonshire  re- 
ceived the  largest  amount,  no  less  than  $394,163  being  expended 
in  widening  and  improving  it. 


DEVONSHIRE  STREET  45 

CONCLUSION 

To  trace  the  remaining  vicissitudes  of  Devonshire  Street  would 
be  unprofitable  and  uninteresting-.  It  is  sufficient  to  know  that, 
previous  to  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  Devonshire 
Street  about  State  Street  was  occupied  largely  by  bookseller  shops, 
and  that  the  rest  of  the  street  south  was  tenanted  by  many  small 
shop  dealers,  barbers,  dressmakers,  shoemakers,  carpenter  shops, 
blacksmith  shops,  fencing  schools,  and  small  bar-rooms.  At  No. 
2  Devonshire  Street  was  The  Shades,  a  bar-room  kept  by  Thomas 
D.  Parks,  the  father  of  "Billy"  Parks,  a  sporting  resort  of  much 
fame  early  in  the  nineteenth  century.  At  No.  3,  a  century  ago 
the  site  of  the  Exchange  Coffee  House,  was  the  fencing  academy 
kept  by  William  Tromel,  who  advertised  "to  the  Officers  and 
Gentlemen  of  Boston  and  its  vicinity  that  he  continues  to  give 
lessons  with  a  Small  Sword,  Cut  and  Thrust  Broad  Sword,  and 
with  the  Sabre  Exercises  for  the  Cavalry  and  Artillery,  and  the 
Single  Stick  and  the  Soldiers'  drill,  with  the  different  Marches  and 
real  discipline  of  the  Platoon  according  either  to  the  French  Ex- 
ercises or  the  real  principles  practised  by  the  regular  requirements 
of  the  United  States  Army.  Academy  open  from  7.30  morning 
to  9  in  the  evening." 

At  the  time  of  the  great  fire  in  1872  the  small  shops  and  small 
business  interests  had  largely  disappeared,  and  Devonshire  Street 
was  crowded  to  its  entire  length  with  wholesale  dry-goods  houses, 
warerooms,  furnishings,  and  fancy  goods.  It  in  fact  was  the 
dividing  line  between  the  dry-goods  section  and  the  wholesale 
shoe  and  leather  goods  trade  which  then  crowded  about  Federal 
Street.  The  great  fire  of  1872  swept  everything  on  Devonshire 
Street,  from  Milk  to  Summer,  but  did  not  touch  the  part  from 
Milk  to  State  or  State  to  Dock  Square.  So  great  was  the  heat  of 
the  flames  that  silver  coins  in  the  safe  of  E.  C.  Dyer  at  158  Devon- 
shire Street,  though  in  a  tin  box,  in  a  thick  steel  box,  in  an  iron 
safe,  were  melted  like  wax,  the  silver,  tin,  and  the  black  enamel  of 
the  tin  running  together. 

To-day  Devonshire  Street  contains  the  sites  of  the  biggest  banks 
and  the  greatest  banking  houses  in  New  England,  the  largest 


DEVONSHIRE   STREET   AND   SPRING   LANE   IN   1912 
Showing  the  present  location  of  the  Second  National  Bank  in  the  larger  building 


DEVONSHIRE  STREET 


47 


insurance  companies,  and  some  of  the  great  commission  houses 
which  have  made  the  name  of  Boston  known  the  world  over.  Its 
future  development  seems  to  be  along  financial  lines.  Indeed,  the 
day  may  not  be  far  distant  when  Devonshire  Street  will  be  the 
great  financial  centre  of  Boston. 


Ha 
im m 


Date  Due 

1 

<f> 

BOSTON  COLLEGE 


3  9031  01572634  2 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

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CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS. 

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